WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 19 Purdue women’s golf team opens the spring season Sunday, hosting the 16th-annual Lady Puerto Rico Classic, set for the Rio Mar Country Club River Course in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The Boilermakers aim to win their event for the second time in its history, following up on a solid start to the 2017-18 season in the fall.

THE FIELD
The 2018 Lady Puerto Rico Classic features another standout field, including four top-25 programs and seven of the top-50 ranked squads coming out of the fall. No. 3 Arkansas headlines the group, followed by No. 14 Colorado, No. 18 Kent State and the 19th-ranked Boilermakers. North Carolina State is the defending event champions, and with Arkansas and Purdue are the only three teams who have won the Lady Puerto Rico Classic previously.

Team

GolfWeek

GolfStat

Arkansas

3

4

Colorado

14

19

Kent State

18

22

Purdue

19

17

Iowa State

29

26

East Carolina

34

38

North Carolina St.

40

43

TCU

53

65

Maryland

54

62

Augusta Univ.

96

92

Nebraska

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THE COURSE: Rio Mar Country Club – River Course
The Lady Puerto Rico Classic will be played in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico for the 10th straight year, moving there from San Juan in 2009, and will be hosted by the Rio Mar Country Club's River Course for the eighth straight year, after moving from the Trump International Championship Course in 2011. PGA legend Greg Norman designed the Rio Mar Country Club River Course along the Mameyes. Married with the lay of the land, the island itself dictates the holes. The result is a course for all skill levels, full of native foliage, generous fairways and shallow bunkers. The course will play at par-72, at 6,191 yards.

AT THIS EVENT
The Boilermakers have won their annual spring opener just once in its 15-year history, taking the 2009 event title behind medalist honors from Maria Hernandez. Purdue has struggled the last two years in Puerto Rico, finishing 14th in 2016, and 11th in 2017, but took fifth as recently as 2015, and sixth in 2014.

#BOILERNOTES
• Purdue head coach Devon Brouse is in his 20th season at his alma mater, returning in 1998 and taking the Boilermakers to the postseason in 17 of the last 18 years
• The Boilermakers open the spring season ranked in the top-20 for the third straight season, holding the No. 20 mark from GolfWeek.com and the No. 17 ranking from GolfStat.com
• Junior Ida Ayu Indira Melati Putri was the Boilermakers’ top finisher in a team-best 3-of-8 rounds in the fall, including a career-best round of four-under 68 at the Minnesota Invitational
• Putri finished in the top-15 of the individual standings in each of her first two tournaments of the season, tying for 12th to lead the team at the Windy City Collegiate Classic
• Putri’s 25 birdies were tied for a team-high in the fall, and she averaged a team-best 4.81 strokes on par 5’s
• Freshman Inez Wanamarta shared medalist honors at the season-opening Minnesota Invitational, tying a Boilermaker 54-hole record with a score of 10-under 206, initially set by Paula Reto at the 2013 NCAA West Regional
• Wanamarta’s final-round, five-under 67 is tied for the 12th-lowest round all-time by a Boilermaker and tied for the third-lowest by a Purdue freshman
• Wanamarta was honored as the Big Ten Player of the Week on Sept. 13
• Wanamarta matched Putri with 25 birdies in the fall, and had the only eagle by a Boilermaker
• Sophomore Micaela Farah had a team-high 96 pars in the three fall events, with a top individual placing of 18th at the Landfall Tradition
• Farah was a team-best even par on par 3’s
• The Boilermakers were under par as a team in all three rounds at Minnesota en route to the third-lowest 54-hole team score in program history: 283-285-286=854 (-10)
• Farah and senior Marta Martin were all named to the Big Ten Conference Players to Watch list, published Aug. 30
• Farah was the sixth freshman in program history to earn First Team All-Big Ten honors
• Freshman Lauren Guiao will play in her first varsity event this weekend after playing three tournaments as an individual in the fall
• Purdue’s season-opening lineup was without a U.S. born player for the first time since 2010, as Putri and Wanamarta hail from Indonesia, Martin and Cova SanJuan are from Spain and Farah is from Peru